Month: September 2012

Another cricket season reaches its close and although league results were not great there was nonetheless some very good cricket played and enjoyed. The step up to the Premier League for the 1st XI proved a step too far. This was hardly surprising as no fewer than 16 current County players, five recently retired professionals and four top-grade ‘overseas’ players represented their clubs in this league during the season. Southgate’s team of genuine club players played the game with spirit and the best of attitude. The 2nd XI, with over 100 points, were extremely unlucky not to gain promotion, but unfortunately the 3rd and 4th teams were relegated. The Club’s committee has a tough winter ahead to ensure that next season has a more positive outcome.

The official Club newsletter will be forwarded in due course by Secretary Doug Gordon with more detail about the season and the Annual Bulletin with every conceivable fact and figure will be compiled and produced in the spring as usual by Ricky Gunn. In the meantime some general news:

The first 200 Club draw of the year was held at the members lunch at the Club on August 11.

Angie Kennedy, mother of 2nd team batsman, Alex, and wife of former player and treasurer, Martyn won £50.00.

Richard Musson, a member of the 1977 National Cup winning team won £100.00. Richard attended the lunch having travelled by public transport from his home in Teddington to attend the function.

The first prize of £300 was won by Vera Davies. Vera is the widow of one of the Club’s all time great Club members Eric, who took hundreds of wickets during the fifties, sixties and seventies with his tantalising leg breaks.The Davies family were responsible for many cricket teas in their time in the ‘good old days’ when these were mainly produced by members wives.

The next 200 Club draw will be held at a Christmas Lunch to be held at the Club on Sunday 02 December. All members, vice-presidents, honorary members, playing members both current and former, with their wives or girlfriends are welcome. Full details will follow in due course.

The new modernized scorebox is now fully operational , and thanks to Martin Fletcher for his generous contribution towards the costs.

Please visit the new Southgate Cricket Club ‘Memorabilia Room’ situated next to the bar. Somewhere within there is probably a picture of you. The room contains various cups and trophies received over the years ; team and individual photographs ; a small library of cricket books donated by members; annual reports with statistics and details of each year since 1973. Look up your personal record in there ! Also a substantial photographic memory of the Club compiled by respected member, Reg Broadbridge.

The final game of the season was unfortunately a total waste of time, Southgate shot out for 79 and beaten by 9 wickets by an ebullient and confident Hornsey side safe in the knowledge of an assured fifth position in the Middlesex County Premier League.

To add insult to injury our 2nd XI were hosting Horsey 2nds back at the Walker so what may normally have been a polite pint and a rapid getaway became a full afternoon’s worth of post-match drinks with the opposition in attendance. It could have been a lot worse though, Hornsey are a good bunch of lads and for a period of time we had some great entertainment watching the 2nds in action on a glorious September Saturday.

So it’s now time for some reflection and analysis, but also some words of thanks to a number of people.

Firstly a thank you to the Southgate players who’ve tried hard in what has been a royal stinker of a campaign, it’s been tough but they’ve given it a go, stuck together and enjoyed a few laughs along the way. At the start of the summer there was some cautious optimism, we had to pick our moments and grab enough points against the weaker opposition when it mattered. Ultimately the moments quickly passed us by, arguably the first two weeks were pivotal and by the end we hadn’t managed even one winning draw!

We’ve used roughly the same group of lads as had been successful in previous seasons, with ten of us playing a dozen or more of the 16 matches (two were rain ruined). Key absentees Creese and Allan sadly managed only two and five matches respectively, which weakened us from the beginning, and the rest took time to adapt to the level. The old hands said we needed four new players of very good standard in order to compete – we started minus three quality players from the side who beat Enfield so thrillingly in the final match of 2011 and we felt the pressure straight away.

They old adage of four wins keeps you up proved correct his season, with Stanmore surviving by a point and sending Brondesbury down to division two for the first time in league history. In hindsight our two games against Stanmore could and should have been won, there was an opportunity in game one against Finchley where the coin came down a head on a rain-sodden wicket, and against Eastcote in the penultimate week with runs on the board our threadbare attack couldn’t contain. The chances were there.

That said, we were always fighting an uphill battle for a number of reasons this summer from the moment we were stuck in on a very sticky one in game one. First and foremost, as well as moving up to a vastly superior standard of cricket, you are also playing a very different type of cricket and the additional 20 overs in the day certainly changes the pace of the game and the levels of concentration required.

Overall the standard of the league is very impressive. The fielding in the Premier Division has been very good and I can count on one hand the number of dropped catches against us. We shelled vital catches throughout. Bowlers tended not to bowl much loose stuff and we didn’t have batsman turning starts into big scores, which was commonplace elsewhere. Some of the behaviour in the league is not good enough and needs to be monitored; umpires need to be supported as without them the league wouldn’t exist. This isn’t the view of a Jazzer, I’ve played in the pit villages of South Yorkshire and in the North East where cash is king and winning is everything. Some of the puerile, brattish and downright ugly behaviour I’ve seen isn’t what you get in the professional game, it’s a warped imitation and largely bereft of genuine wit or intelligence. I’m proud of the way my lads conducted themselves again this year.

15 wickets at 31 from only 12 games was less that I’d hoped from our overseas player Carmi Le Roux, but I’m sure he learned a great deal and we were lucky to find someone of his ability prepared to self-fund a trip to the UK when many expect a package with all the trimmings. I wish Carmi the very best of luck for the future and hope to see him in the wickets in his native South Africa this winter. I’d like to extend a huge thank you to first Ricky and Daphne and latterly Adrian who housed our young overseas player this season, this really is appreciated.

It was encouraging at the start of the season to be told by the league that we should register our two Middlesex allocated pros, unfortunately this wasn’t a great success as the closest we got to an appearance was Ollie Rayner popping in to watch Hampstead v Southgate for an hour. The league is only stronger for the quantity of county players who’ve featured this season and it’s great to see them in action, however I’d question whether more structure to this allocation process could be achieved as is the case in some county premier leagues. I certainly envied the likes of Hornsey who got, Ireland on the park nine times, and Stanmore who rolled out Crook and the former West Indian International Collymore, not to mention having a certain M. R. Ramprakash up their sleeve – he’s not the worst coming in at three.

We can’t blame the toss, I won more than my share and Hornsey lost nearly all of them,. The lesson there is that you shouldn’t place too much emphasis on things you can’t control. More often than not the better team will get the points.

There was an occasional glimmer and reaching the quarter-finals of the League Cup was great fun, especially knocking out Ealing with a scratch side away from home. It was such a shame that this was the one game where absolutely no one came to watch us, presumably our loyal band of followers were fearing the worst!

This leads me to a sincere note of thanks for the regular supporters who come along and watch us every week, they really haven’t had much to cheer this year. I knew our demise at home against Stanmore was a genuine low point when I heard Ron the Postman exit stage right muttering something along the lines of “I’ve had enough of this s***!” I didn’t blame him.

I think the biggest support we’ve had this season has been from our scorer, Andrew Parkin, who has stuck by us throughout and done a thoroughly professional job. Andrew has been a terrific help this year and I speak for all of the players in saying a huge thank you to him for doing a terrific job.

Off the field there has also been some brilliant work done by Jeremy and Peter on the refurbishment of the score box and the memorabilia room, and I’d like to thank all those involved in the running of the club specifically Ricky Gunn, Paul Lassman and Ron ‘the Bugle’ Hewit for their hard work once again.

We’ve had some good individual displays and it’s been particularly encouraging to see the young talents of Dunnett, Edrich and Sivarajah on display this year. I very much hope to see each of them forging long careers with the club.

Now is definitely the time to look to the future development of this great club and plan not just next season but for the next five and beyond as there is much to be done to put us back on the map. I’d urge everyone to get stuck in and play a part.

We do however have some good fixtures in the Jim Conroy Trophy this weekend and we will be looking to beat Edmonton on Saturday and Enfield away on Sunday.

Rob

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For the record, results from the final round of league matches, plus final league positions

3rd XI relegated from Division Three – third teams. Next year they will play in Division 1 of the 1987 League

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4th XI

Southgate v Turnham Green Polytechnic

match drawn

Southgate 239-5 dec (46 overs)

Gunn 106

Gordon 22

Devkamalth 22

TGP 167-8 (46 overs)

Rolt 3-17

Gordon 3-32

4th XI relegated from Division 4 of the 1987 Cricket league

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Finally, if anyone has a match report festering on their hard drive, send it to me. In particular it would be nice to get a view of Ricky Gunn’s ton against Turnham Green Polytechnic, and any other notable performances from the season that might have been missed and in hindsight are worth drawing to the attention of the club. Short or long, send them to me at ron.hewit@gmail.com

With a punchy 10:30am start in prospect Captain Johnson gathered the Southgate troops on the outfield for some catching practice and, upon losing the toss, we were inserted on an unusual looking Southgate surface.

Jouning departed in the first over, caught behind, and there may well have been a sinking feeling among a group of players who this season have been only too familiar with a first-innings collapse and an early shandy in the bar.

Eastcote were without two of their four Middlesex squad players and, fortunately for us, it was the two who bowl. However with the experienced pair of Metcalf and Goodchild taking the new ball, two of our three Toms, Messers Edrich and Yeomans, had a tricky hour in store.

A few spectators arrived, as did a few of the 2nd and 3rd XI players. “Yes,” we told them, “we started at 10:30”. We’d got through an hour or so still one down with Yeomans looking to be positive with trademark drives and Edrich digging in solidly at the other end. Adam Rossington, fresh from a four-day stint behind the stumps for the county, was given the opportunity with the ball and nearly took a wicket first ball as Edrich miss-timed a pull. Tom Scollay’s off-spin initially looked to be generating a lot of turn spin but the Toms looked in control as an excellent partnership of 74 for the second wicket ensued. It was however Scollay who made the breakthrough as Yeomans conspired to be caught at leg slip as the ball deflected off the wicketkeeper and ballooned up for a simple catch. This was a real shame as he’d looked in excellent order and having survived a difficult first hour was ticking along nicely.

Dunnett at number four has been lacking the runs that his ability merits and searching for some confidence at this level that only really comes with time in the middle and runs under the belt. He started intelligently looking to rotate the strike with singles in the gaps against both seam and spin and he and Tom Edrich played in a composed fashion through to lunch. Without doubt this was the strongest position we’d achieved batting first at lunch and our young guns left the field to generous applause.

Sue’s beef and ale pie followed by apple crumble and ice cream was polished off and play resumed with Southgate looking to build on their good start. Edrich moved up a gear or two and reached a maiden league 50 for the 1st XI which included five fours, while at the other end Dunnett, who was looking increasingly fluent, helped himself to a couple of classy straight drives and nearly put the Eastcote short leg fielder in hospital with a savage pull shot into the lad’s back. Sadly with 54 to his name Tom perished to a loose shot caught at extra-cover. Having done the hard work before lunch it was a shame to give it away, but it was a solid innings nonetheless and with 139 on the board a reasonable platform to build on.

Johnson at number five came into join Dunnett, who continued to pile on the runs in good time with some excellent shot making. Eastcote were beginning to show signs of genuine concern with approximately 70 having been scored in a ten-over period since lunch but an LBW dismissal one shy of his own maiden 1st XI half century sent a disappointed Dunnett back to the sheds.

Johnson fell to a David Goodchild change of pace for a breezy 21 but Tom Allan, offered an early reprieve from a goober at extra-cover, looked set to make Eastcote pay as he moved through the gears with increasing levels of authority at the crease.

There followed a highly entertaining partnership with Hadgie taking centre stage. At this point Eastcote’s stand-in death bowler may have been wishing he’d kept his gloves on as Hadgie and Tom dominated the closing stages.

Tom fell for 45 and Adeel Saeed was sacrificed looking for swift runs in the final over, but a sweating, breathless Hadgie marched off having hit a belligerent 52 from only 37 balls with five 4s and a glorious 6. The score of 285 for 7 in 66 was a significant improvement on our recent efforts.

After the short interval we started poorly with Yeomans thrust into taking the new ball with Le Roux back in Johannesburg and Faisal unavailable. His opening over went for 23, which wasn’t as bad as Carmi’s the week before but was far from ideal. Hadgie, having taken on a bottle of water and a few Bensons, did his magic up the hill and removed the dangerous Tom Scollay for 22 from eight balls to drag things back, but the Eastcote number three came out all guns blazing as well until Southgate’s mystery first-change bowler Phil Dunnett picked up a wicket as he picked out deep cow with a fairly brainless slog across the line. Even with this second breakthough Eastcote had got the start they needed with 50 on the board in no time and plenty of quality batting to come.

Post tea Southgate’s three spinners (who’ve gone collectively for in excess of 1000 this season) bowled ok with Haseeb the pick, but unfortunately anything loose went to the fence and the runs continued to flow, and with their best batsman still to come in at seven things were far from over.

Middlesex’s Adam Rossington showed that he’s not afraid to go after the spinners, with reverse sweeps and conventional shots over the top and he spread the field expertly. It was then a canter home with four overs to spare, his 72 coming from 54 deliveries with nine fours and two sixes.

Had Southgate fielded a their full bowling attack it may have been a different story perhaps. but sadly another defeat for the Trees. There were some notable performances from the batsman that were highly encouraging, but our bowling wasn’t good enough on the day. Rob Johnson

Keen Bugle followers – those of you who eagerly await each weekly edition and, once published, devour the reports with hunger and passion – may remember an earlier effort of mine, at the start of the season. On May 19th, still under the influence of final school exams, I penned my account of our fixture with Ickenham in the style of a sixth-form history essay. Today, faced with the prospect of writing two reports in the same evening (I forgot to write last week’s report, so my teammates reprimanded me by assigning this week’s scribble as well), I choose to return to my earlier style, structuring this effort as a high-school literature essay on the following question: Compare and contrast the key themes of “Harrow Town in the Rain” and the sequel “Away at Wycombe House”.

The tales of Harrow Town in the Rain and Away at Wycombe House begin and end in similar fashion. Both open with a successful coin toss for protagonist Adrian Carr, and conclude with a triumphant run chase by the Southgate batters. At the close of each, supporters can rejoice at the accomplishment of ten, hard-earned points. And, while the frustrating news of yet another Wembley win knocks the stuffing out of the post-Wycombe House celebrations, both victories are welcomed and enjoyed by the central characters from the Southgate 2s.

Suresh Kalagara and Omair Ali share the new ball on both occasions. In Harrow Town the setting is a grey, rainy scene at the Walker Ground and, while the opening few overs cause trouble for the Harrow Town batsmen, the brief yet torrential storm that follows, and the subsequently soaking wet ball, puts an end to the opening bowlers’ success. In contrast, the setting for Wycombe House is a dry west-London day and a green wicket that, in many places, is largely indistinguishable from the outfield; here, unsurprisingly, Suresh and Omair bowl incredibly dangerous opening spells. In Wycombe House an early wicket is denied when the opener edges a wide one behind; the player-umpire apologises, explaining the overhead aeroplane prevented him from hearing any contact, the batsman adopts a look of shocked disbelief and taps his pads in justification for the booming snick. Southgate players are unsure whether to laugh or argue, so remain admirably silent and continue with the game.

The prevailing tone of Harrow Town is frantic, chaotic, and interrupting, a stark contrast from the sedate monotony of Wycombe House. In Harrow Town, further rain breaks and a decrease in available overs to just 74 spark a hurried race to a declaration target and a flurry of boundaries, wickets and dropped catches. 197-5 declared, in 38 overs, is the game situation halfway through Harrow Town. Conversely, after struggling to 20-2 in 15 overs, Wycombe House continue their innings with an unbelievable lack of intent, and close on 164 all out in 54 overs. Characters of importance in this opening half of Wycombe House include Sam Faruqi for a strong spell of bowling, Max Joseph for a stunning catch, and your scribe, Paul Lassman, for somehow managing to stay awake at cover point, a position to which the ball ventured no more than an exhilarating three times during the course of the entire innings.

The contrasting tones recognised above continue in the second part of both Harrow Town and Wycombe House. In the former, opening batsmen Paddy Robinson and Dave Woffinden attack the Harrow Town bowling with great intent, founded on the effective combination of strong running between the wickets and a very slow outfield. In the latter, after the fall of two early wickets, it is with myself that Paddy forms a partnership, albeit one of a notably more relaxed pace that the previous week. At drinks in Harrow Town, Southgate need about 100 off 18 overs with six wickets in hand; at drinks in Wycombe House the target is a similar 95 runs required, although with more overs (23) and wickets (8) still remaining.

Great literature keeps its reader continuously involved; fittingly in both tales the Southgate batsmen pace their chase at such a rate that the opposition is always in with a chance. In Harrow Town, the unexpected departures of Max Joseph and Alex Kennedy, both for 48, leave Suresh Kalagara and Sam Faruqi to hit the winning runs, which, in keeping with the high intensity of the whole tale, they do so with stunning drama. Suresh finishes with a crucial 40*, and Sam on a characteristic 9*, off three deliveries. In Wycombe House, it is Paul Lassman’s wicket for 62 that leaves the final runs to be scored by Paddy (54*) and Shiv-Raj Sharma (20). After Shiv is out caught with one run to win, Suresh (in keeping with the low intensity of the whole tale) leaves his first ball to craftily induce a scampered bye that brings the game to its close.

To conclude, despite differences in tone, pace and intensity, the dominant theme of both Harrow Town in the Rain and Away at Wycombe House is the same: 10 points. If, as can be expected, the two short tales fail to change the direction of our season, fail to secure our promotion, that will be a shame. We can, however, take heart from such victories, where we’ve played good cricket and enjoyed good results. Bring on Hornsey this Saturday. And then bring on 2013. Paul Lassman

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3rd XI

Southgate v Harrow Town

match drawn

Southgate 237-8 dec (50 overs)

D Woffinden 46

A Quiyum 44

M Hughes 41

J Dangerfield 33

R Mahbubani 22

Harrow Town 182-8 (50 overs)

D Woffinden 4-47

A Quiyum 3-52

The game was played on a sunny day and a strong Trees side rocked up to a flat batting track with the prospect of a ‘Steve McQueen jumping fences on a motorbike’ style great escape on the cards.

With the team suitably bolstered by good availability, all were upbeat at the thought of a last-ditch attempt at salvation.

The going was tougher than expected but the captain’s faith in his top order was kept intact as Jez and Mark toiled away for a very well worked opening partnership of 70. After some standard LBW controversy and a few wickets falling, it was down to Woffers to be the backbone of the innings as things progressed. At 100-2 off 30-ish overs, it was definitely time to push on and after a short flurry from the number four, he silently slipped into the background as pinch hitter Abdul jogged out to the crease. After playing himself in with a few skied (but fairly conservative compared with what was to come) 4s through midwicket with a shot we all know and love, it was down to the serious business of putting us in a strong position. This was achieved through a combination of hitting – three sixes in a row for Abdul – and excellent support play from Woffers and then keeper-batsman Ram Mahbubani.

The next task, following Sue’s vegetarian specials and 1st XI leftovers from tea, was bowling the opposition out.

The ball was swinging around quite nicely for openers Abdul and Berman and some smart bowling from Josh frustrated the opposition captain into a rash shot, gladly caught by Woffers at cover. After a couple of slip catches were snaffled by Dangerfield and a caught behind by Ram, we’d made an inroad into the middle order and were quietly confident of all ten points.

But, needless to say, the dreaded catch-dropping plague had not been purged from our midst and as three chance went down (one frustratingly by yours truly off his own bowling), a recovery was in full swing from Harrow Town.

Perseverance paid off and Woffers’ steady away swing proved too much for some hit-out or get-out batsmen, clearly not concerned about the league standings. However, as the sun went down and the forward defensive came out to play in the last four overs, a victory seemed just an unattainable inch (steady…) away. A late glimmer of hope emerged after Jouning took a good slip catch off Abdul’s bowling, but on the day it was not to be.

The first winning draw of the season against fellow strugglers Harrow Town was too little too late for the Southgate 3s as we go into the final game, 15 points adrift at the foot of the Middlesex League, impending relegation knocking at our door. Mike Carter